20 May 2015 Thierry Meeùs Owner Mini-Europe Via e-mail:
[email protected] Dear Mr Meeùs, I am writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) UK and AnimaNaturalis, a Spanish animal rights organisation – along with our hundreds of thousands of supporters throughout Europe – to urge you to update the depiction of Spain in the Mini-Europe park from a bullring to something more representative of modern Spanish culture such as Seville's Plaza de España. Bullfighting is animal abuse, plain and simple. In the ring, the bull has swords plunged into his neck, back and body again and again until blood pours from his wounds and mouth. He is terrified and in excruciating pain. He doesn't want to die, but he can't run away, and soon he won't even be able to stand up. After falling to the floor from exhaustion and massive blood loss, he can only watch as a knife rips into his spinal cord to kill him. This is the experience of bulls killed in Spanish bullfights. Opposition to bullfighting in Spain is already vast and mounting. According to a recent survey, 76 per cent of Spaniards show no interest in bullfights, up from 56 per cent in the '80s, and 76 per cent oppose the use of public funds to support the industry. The entire region of Catalonia is just one of the many locales in Spain that have banned bullfighting for good. The loss-incurring bloodsport of bullfighting could not continue without public subsidies paid by taxpayers.